Years in the Making
by Hypnotoad76
Summary: AU where Jeff and Annie are the same age and meet as children, and grow up together. Other Community characters will appear throughout the story.
1. Chapter 1

The summer before second grade was a very important time for Jeff. Several things happened during the summer of 1994 that would shape his entire life. The first of these events was his father leaving him and his mother. It happened a couple days after school had ended. Jeff had spent the day at his sitter's house, waiting for his mom to pick him up. When she finally did she drove him home and explained as best she could that his father was gone, and the two of them were going to be moving in a few days.

At first Jeff didn't grasp the finality of his mother's words. After all, this wasn't the first time his father had left them. He and Mom would have a fight and he would then leave for a few days. One time he was gone longer, over a whole week, before he finally came back. But he always returned to them.

When Jeff pointed this out his mom became angry, stating that his dad was not coming back this time. She then told Jeff to start packing up his things before she went to her room. Later on Jeff went to his mom's room to see when they were going to eat dinner. When he opened the door he was shocked to see his mom laying on the bed, sobbing into a pillow. It was at that moment that he finally believed her, and he knew his dad was gone for good this time.

That night Jeff lay awake in his bed, staring at the glow in the dark stars that were stuck to the ceiling. "Why did Dad leave us?" he said softly. He knew his dad didn't like to spend time with either of them. His dad would yell at him and his mom so often that Jeff assumed it was a terrifying trait fathers just had. And even when he wasn't yelling his dad never liked to spend time with him. When he came home from work his dad would go to the den to have a few glasses of his whisky, only emerging to silently eat dinner. So even when he was around it wasn't like his dad was really 'around'.

But even so, leaving forever had a different feeling than being around in his own fashion, and Jeff just couldn't understand why it had happened.

He scrunched his little face in shame as hot tears spilled out of him. After all, only babies and girls cry. (At least that's what his friend Alan said.) But once they started they didn't stop. He held onto his favorite stuffed animal as deep sadness overtook him.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A few days later Jeff and his mother set off to stay with his aunt and uncle. Most of their stuff had been put in storage, and the rest was loaded into the car. Jeff sat in the back of the car, pushed up against several boxes, as they drove across town to a suburb called Riverside. As they drove through the neighborhood they went by many large houses, which were much bigger than the one he had previously lived in, and all of them had well-kept neat looking lawns. To Jeff they all looked very similar, and very boring.

Finally they pulled up to a large off-white house with a red door and red shutters. Jeff looked at it apprehensively as he got out of the car. While he had seen his aunt and uncle several times this was the first time he would be staying at their house (even though his mom told him he had been there once when he was two years old.)

"Hello," his aunt called out as she came out to greet them

"Hi Sheila," Doreen said as she hugged her sister. "Thank you again for letting us stay with you."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. Brad!" she yelled out. "You want to get out here and help bring in some stuff!"

"I'll be out in a sec!" Jeff's uncle called out from the front door."

Sheila rolled her eyes before looking at her nephew. "Hi little man. I bet you're tired from your trip. Let's get you and your mom set up in the guest room and then I'll get you some cookies and chocolate milk."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"We shouldn't be here that long Sheila. A couple weeks at most, until I can find a place for us," Doreen said the next morning while the four of them ate breakfast.

"Nonsense," Sheila stated. "You're welcome to stay as long as you want. In fact, the basement has been converted into an apartment. Our last tenant moved out a few weeks ago, so there's no one there. You and Jeff are welcome to live there if you want."

"I thought we were trying to rent it to someone. Isn't that why we put that ad in the paper?" Brad said. He then quickly looked back at his newspaper as his wife glared at him.

"On no, I couldn't do that. You're already doing so much for us already. We'll be out of here in no time," Doreen said.

Sheila looked at Jeff, who was swirling the cheerios around in his bowl. "I'm sorry, we don't have any kid cereal here. If you tell me what you like I can have Brad pick up a box when he comes home from work."

"It's okay," Jeff said, not wanting to bother his aunt and uncle. He ate a few more spoonful's before asking his aunt, "Are there any kids around here to play with?"

"Kids?" she said thoughtfully. "I know Cornelius and Helen Hawthorne have a son named Pierce. He's a couple years older than you, but you could probably play with him. The Chang's at the end of the street have a son…but I don't want you playing with him," she said after some reflection. "He's always teasing people and barking at dogs when they go by his house. Let's see…Oh! I completely forgot. The Edison's behind us have a daughter about your age, Annie," Sheila said as she pointed out the window to the house directly adjacent to their back yard.

"I don't wanna play with a girl," Jeff declared.

"Boys will be boys," Brad said with a smile, before quickly looking back at his newspaper as his wife and sister-in-law gave him a withering look.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After breakfast Jeff's mom and uncle left for work. Since Sheila was a teacher and had the summer off, she had offered to watch Jeff so he wouldn't have to be shipped back and forth between sitters. As she went around doing household chores Jeff played outside in the backyard, throwing a ball around. He liked to throw it high into the air and catch it. He wasn't the best at catching or throwing, but it was something to do.

After doing this several times he threw it particularly high into the air. He ran to try and catch it when it sailed into the yard behind him. "Darn it!" he yelled, before covering his mouth at having said a swear.

"Is this yours?"

Jeff looked over in the direction the voice had come from. It had come from behind the row of bushes along the end of the yard. He went over and made his way through the bushes, which hid a chain link fence separating his aunt and uncle's house from the one behind it. And on the other side of the fence was a girl holding his ball.

As the girl came towards him Jeff wasn't sure she was a real person. She looked like one of those dolls his grandmother had on her mantle. _What's that word_? Jeff thought. _Por…por… .lain_, he sounded out in his head. Unlike himself, who was covered in scrapes and scabs, she looked like she didn't have a single blemish or mark on her. Jeff didn't think it was possible for a kid not to have dirt or bruises on them. (At least that's how his mom talked every time she'd get him ready for his bath.) And her eyes were huge. They reminded him of characters on a cartoon he once saw where everyone spoke in a different language.

She was wearing a real frilly white dress which had no stains or dirt on it, and her long brown hair was in two neat pigtails and free of any dirt and leaves and such. _Yup, she's a doll_, he decided.

"Hi," she said a bit shyly. "My name's Annie. What's yours?"

"Jeff," he said, glancing down as he moved his sneakers around in the dirt. "That's my ball."

She looked at the red ball in her hands before suddenly going to the shed in her yard. Jeff watched as he heard general commotion from inside. Just as he was about to ask what she was doing she came out with a small stepladder. She set the ladder against the fence before carefully going up it and climbing over the fence. Jeff was afraid she'd get hurt, since she was smaller than him. But she made it over with no fuss and without even getting her outfit dirty.

They went out through the bushes before standing in front of one another in his aunt's backyard. "Did you just move here?" Annie asked.

"My mom and me are staying with my aunt and uncle for a while."

Annie nodded her before wiggling the ball in her hand. "Do you want to play catch?"

"Girls can't throw balls," Jeff declared.

"Says who?" she asked as she threw the ball in the air and caught it with more finesse than expected.

"My friend Alan," Jeff said, sticking his chin out.

"Alan's stupid."

"Well you're a doll."

"I'm not a doll!" Annie said in anger.

"Yeah you are. Dolly, dolly, dolly," Jeff said teasingly as he pointed at her.

"Well you're…you're…" Her cheeks reddened and puffed up with air as she tried to come up with something mean to say to him. "You've got a big forehead!"

"No I don't!" Jeff cried out as he touched his forehead. "Dolly!"

"Big Forehead!"

"Dolly!"

"Big Forehead!" Annie yelled as she pushed Jeff.

"DOLLY!" Jeff screamed as he pushed Annie right back. Annie forcefully stepped backwards from the impact of the shove before falling hard onto the grass. Jeff looked at Annie, horrified that he had pushed a girl (even if she had pushed him first.) For a moment he thought she really was a doll and he had just broken her, just like when he accidently broke one of his grandmother's display dolls. "Are you alright?" he asked in terror.

He breathed in deep relief as she got to her feet, before seeing that her eyes were shiny with tears. "My dress," she said, her voice thick with emotion as she held out the front of her dress, which now had a big grass stain on it. "My mommy's going to be so mad at me."

"I know what to do, come on." Jeff took Annie by her hand and the two of them ran into his house. He led her into the kitchen and opened up the cabinet, frantically looking through it. "My mom says vinegar gets out stains."

"It's that one," Annie said as she pointed to a bottle of red liquid where the second word started with a 'V'.

Jeff took the bottle and carefully sounded out the word, deciding it was indeed vinegar. He struggled with the cap before getting it to twist off. "Hold on." Jeff lifted the front of Annie's dress away from her and poured the liquid all over the stained area.

"It's not working. Now it's stained and all red," Annie cried.

"What's going on in here?"

The two children froze as Jeff's aunt came into the kitchen. "Hello?" she said as she took in the sight before her. "What in the world are you two doing?"

Annie and Jeff quickly looked at each other before they frantically started speaking at once.

"She's Annie!"

"I'm Annie!"

"We were playing outside!"

"He was making fun of me!"

"I pushed her!"

"He called me 'Dolly'!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"My dress got stained with grass!"

"I tried to get rid of the stain!"

"He tried to help but now it's worse!"

"OKAY!" Sheila said loudly, silencing the children as she took the vinegar from Jeff's hands. "Jeff, stay here. Annie, come with me."

She took Annie by the hand and brought her into the guest room Jeff and his mom were sleeping in. A few minutes later the two women came out of the room. Sheila was holding Annie's dress and Annie was wearing a pair of Jeff's shorts and one of his t-shirts. "Alright, you kids go watch TV while I take care of the dress."

"Can you fix it? My mom will be really mad if it's ruined," Annie said, having voiced her fears several times while she was being changed.

"It'll take some work, but I've saved worse off clothing then this. Though I will say you kids did a pretty good job on getting it nice and dirty." She smiled at Annie to let her know she wasn't mad before going off to clean the dress.

Annie followed Jeff into the den, standing back as Jeff went over and turned on the TV. "Come on, Eureeka's Castle is on," Jeff said excitedly as he frantically pressed the dial before it landed on Nickelodeon. He sat down on the floor before looking at Annie, who was still hanging back. "Haven't you ever seen this?" He looked at her in surprise as she shook her head. "Why not?"

"We don't have a TV."

"You don't have a TV?" Jeff yelled in shock. "Everyone has a TV!"

"Well we don't," Annie stated defensively with a hint of embarrassment.

Jeff wanted to make fun of her regarding this development, particularly after she had called him 'Big Forehead'. But instead he gestured for her to sit next to him on the floor. He waited until she tentatively sat beside him. "This is a TV," he said as he gestured to it. "It brings shows into people's homes. But the people on screen are not real people."

"I know what a TV is," she yelled.

Jeff scoffed before suddenly asking, "How old are you?"

"Six," she answered.

"I'm seven," he proudly stated.

"Well…I can read and I'm not even in first grade."

"No you can't. They don't teach you to read until elementary school," Jeff stated.

"Well I can," she angrily declared.

Jeff looked around before picking up a nearby magazine and pointed to the title. "What does this say?"

"Are…you…r…ready…for the…World…Cup?" Annie carefully read out loud.

Jeff looked at the cover and read the title himself, shocked to realize Annie was indeed right. "Wow…you can read. That's neat."

"Thanks," she said, happy he wasn't making fun of her.

He looked at the screen, seeing a bear puppet appear. "If a real bear was here, I wouldn't let him eat you," Jeff declared.

Annie smiled, thinking that was one of the nicest things she had ever heard. "I wouldn't let a bear eat you," she told him. "I'd give it honey and have him eat that."

The two of them talked while they watched the show, Annie paying more attention to the program then Jeff, when the phone rang. The two kids looked over as Sheila came into the kitchen and picked it up. "Hello…oh, hello Mariel…yes, Annie's right here." (The kids got up and went into the kitchen as Sheila talked to Annie's mom.) "She came over and she and Jeff have been playing. There was an incident where Annie's dress got dirty, but I'm washing it as we speak…okay, I get I should have called you. But I thought you knew she was here. I came downstairs and they were both inside…how is any of this my fault…well forgive me for not watching them every second, but it's not like you knew what your child was doing either…yeah, you do that. Goodbye!"

Sheila looked down, finally noticing Jeff and Annie looking up at her wide eyed. "Annie, that was your mother. She said she's coming to take you home."

"Is she mad at me because of my dress?" Annie asked.

"She's…she should be here soon," Sheila told her, side stepping the question.

Sure enough, a silver Toyota pulled up in front of the house within a few minutes. In no time the doorbell rang and Sheila opened the door, revealing a short unhappy looking woman whose hair was in a tight bun. "Hello Mariel, please come in," Sheila told her in a tight lipped tone.

"Thank you," Mariel responded in an equally clipped infliction. She went over to Annie, taking in the girl's appearance. "I told you not to get your clothes dirty. Now you're running around in borrowed boys clothes?"

"I'm sorry Mommy," Annie said, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Mariel, Annie's dress is fine," Sheila said. "I'm washing it now and it will be good as new. I'll bring it over as soon as it's ready."

"I should hope so," Mariel said as she turned her attention towards Sheila. "It's bad enough you didn't inform me that my daughter had come over here. It would be very unfortunate if her outfit is ruined because of your negligence."

"My negligence!" Sheila said in shock.

"Yes. Come along Annie," she said as she scooped up her daughter. Annie looked back at Jeff and Sheila mournfully before the two of them were out the door and heading to the car.

"That woman is infuriating!" Sheila yelled as she slammed the door. She then looked at Jeff, remembering he was there. "Sorry for yelling Jeff. I'm not mad at you."

Jeff nodded his head before asking, "Can I see Annie again?"

"We'll see," his aunt replied as she tousled his hair.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm home," Doreen called out as she walked into the house.

"Mom!" Jeff yelled as he ran to his mom.

"Hi sweetie," she said as she kissed her son. "How was your day?"

"I made a friend," Jeff said excitedly. "And we fought because she said I have a big forehead, and I got her dress dirty, and we tried to clean it but it got worse, but then Aunt Sheila said she could fix it, and we watched TV, and Annie doesn't even have a TV, and she can read even though she's only six, and then her scary mom came over and-"

"Okay, slow down," she said as she tried to follow her son's story.

"I take it Jeff's telling you about his exciting afternoon," Sheila said as she came over to them, holding Annie's now clean dress.

"Yes he is, but I'm having trouble following. Maybe you can fill me in?"

Doreen listened as her sister explained what had happened while she was away. "Well, it sounds like Jeff found someone to play with."

"I don't know about that," Sheila said doubtfully. "Mariel Edison isn't the easiest person to deal with. And after what happened with her daughter's dress, I'm not sure she'll let the two of them see each other again." She sighed as she looked at the dress in her hand. "I have to go over there to give this back."

"Their house is the one right behind ours, right?" Doreen took the dress as her sister nodded her head. "How about I give this back to her and talk to her. Maybe I can change her mind mother to mother."

"It's worth a shot Dory," she said doubtfully. "And at least that means I only have to see her once today."

"Can I come?" Jeff asked his mom.

"Well…" She thought about it for a sec before telling her son he could come with her.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Mariel opened her door as she heard the doorbell ring, revealing a woman holding her daughter's dress. "Yes?" she said as she looked at the small boy behind her, recognizing him from earlier.

"Hello. I'm Doreen Winger. My son Jeff and I are staying with my sister for a few weeks. I understand your daughter Annie was over earlier."

"Yes, she was," Mariel said in a cool voice. "I see you brought my daughter's dress back." She took hold of the dress as she inspected it. "It seems to not have any stains or damage to it. If you'll wait a minute I'll get you the clothes my Annie was sent home in."

As she went to get them Annie appeared, looking at the two of them. "Hello, you must be Annie?" Doreen asked.

She nodded before looking at Jeff. "Hi," she said with a smile.

"Hi Annie," Jeff responded happily.

"Here you go," Mariel said as she appeared with Jeff's clothes in a clear plastic bag.

"Thank you," Doreen told her. She looked at the two children before an idea came to her. "I was going to take Jeff to the movies on Saturday to see The Lion King. I'd be happy to take Annie so the two of them can spend some time together."

"That's nice, but Annie's only six. I doubt she'll sit still in a movie theater for an entire-."

"Please Mom," Annie pleaded. "I'll be good, I promise."

"Please!" Jeff begged.

Mariel sighed deeply, not wanting to be the bad guy to two small children. "Oh, alright, fine."

"Super," Doreen replied. "I'll call you when I know what theater we're going to and such. What's your number?"

"We're in the phone book under Edison," Mariel said with a tone of finality in her tone.

"Okay," Doreen said, a little taken aback. "Well, I'll call you later on. Have a good day."

She took Jeff's hand as she led him to her car. As they left Jeff looked back over his shoulder, seeing that Annie was also watching him go.


	2. Chapter 2

Annie squinted her eyes as the three of them exited the theater. After being in the dark for so long the bright sunlight hurt her eyes. But even that wasn't enough to bring her happy mood down.

After being picked up Annie sat in the back of the car with Jeff, the two of them talking excitedly. Annie was particularly looking forward to the trip, since this would be the first time she was seeing a movie in a movie theater. When they got there Mrs. Winger bought popcorn and soda for all of them before they found seats. _She's really nice_, Annie thought. To her amazement Mrs. Winger didn't even get mad when Annie had to go to the bathroom during the middle of the movie. She simply brought her to the rest room.

As for the movie itself, Annie enjoyed it very much. Some parts were scary, like some of the scenes with the hyenas and the wildebeest scene, and when Simba and Scar fought at the end. And she did cry when Simba's dad died. (Mrs. Winger had asked her if it was too sad and she needed to go outside, but she shook her head and watched it like a good brave girl.) But even with those parts she loved the movie.

"Did you like the movie Annie?" Doreen asked her.

"It was great!"

"I liked it, and I didn't cry," Jeff declared as Annie looked away.

"Oh no?" His mom replied. "I could have sworn I spotted some tears from you when Mufasa died and when Simba becomes king at the end."

Jeff scowled as Annie laughed and stuck her tongue out at him. "I just had something in my eye." He shook his head as he and Annie climbed into the car. "Do you want to play Lion King when we get home? I'll be Simba, you be Nala, and we can pretend the backyard is the jungle."

"Yeah, let's do that!"

Doreen smiled as she looked at the kids in the rearview mirror, happy that Jeff had made a friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Can you please just look at it," Sheila insisted, once again trying to talk her sister into taking the downstairs apartment. "Again, I don't mind you being in the house, but you two would have much more room then you have now having to share the guest room."

"Maybe she's happy being up here," Brad said before looking away at the glare his wife gave him.

"If you'll just look at it Dory-."

"Alright, I'll look at it, if it will get you off my back," Doreen told her sister.

The two of them and Jeff went through a door in the kitchen and walked down a long flight of stairs. At the end was a door, which lead to the basement, which was the entire width of the house. Sheila switched on a light and started showing them around.

"As you can see, it's been completely converted into an apartment," she told them as she led them through the living room. "There's a kitchenette over there, with a refrigerator and working stove and microwave. The bathroom had a working stall shower. There are two bedrooms, so you and Jeff can each have your own room. There's a washer and dryer in the side room. Annnnd," she drew out as she went over and opened a door that led out to the side of the house. "You even have a door that leads directly outside, so you don't even have to go through the house to get inside."

Jeff looked in awe at the place. The basement at their old house was small and cluttered, and was always damp. This was like a small one floor house.

"Well?" Sheila asked her sister.

"It's nice Sheila, but I told you, we're just staying until we find our own place."

"I know. But until you do, wouldn't you rather stay here and have some room to breathe, instead of staying in the guest room barely able to move through the boxes and suitcases?"

Doreen sighed as she realized this was the more practical choice. "Okay, fine. But again, it's only temporary. I'm just putting the stuff we brought with us down here. Everything in storage stays in storage until I find my own place." She went over to her son and squatted down to his height. "Sweetie, we're going to be living down here for a little while. Would you like that?"

"Yeah!" he excitedly told her.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Can I play with Annie?" Jeff asked his aunt the next day after his mom and uncle had gone to work.

"It's a little early," she said as she looked at the clock, seeing that it wasn't even 9am. "I'll take you over in a little bit."

An hour and a half later Sheila drove her nephew around the block to Annie's. She waited as Jeff ran over and stood on his tiptoes to ring the doorbell. After a few minutes the door opened, revealing a short man with glasses and thin hair that looked like it was combed over to one side. "Oh, hello young man. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to see if Annie could play," Jeff said shyly, since he wasn't sure how to act around dads.

"Oh I'm sorry, but Annie had a dance lesson in a little while," Mr. Edison said as Jeff spotted Annie in a pink leotard and tutu in the kitchen. "I'll tell her you came by. What's your name?"

"Jeff."

Mr. Edison's face lit up as he realized who he was talking to. "Oh, you're the boy Annie has been going on about. I'm sure she'll be happy to come over and play once she's done with her lesson. Where do you live?"

"In my aunt's house right behind yours," Jeff said as he pointed in the direction of the Edison's backyard. "We're staying there for a few weeks."

"Well then, I'll send Annie over after she gets back. And in the future, you're welcome to hop the fence and come through our backyard instead of being driven over here. And if it's fine with your mom Annie can do the same."

"Okay, thanks."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Over the next few weeks Jeff saw Annie almost every day. Most times she would come over to his Aunt's house to play, using her step ladder to climb over the fence. They would play games in the backyard and watch TV and movies inside. A couple times Sheila took the kids to the town pool when it was really hot.

Sometimes Jeff went to Annie's to play, which was fine except for the fact that they couldn't watch TV shows there. Annie's dad wasn't that bad. He made really good tuna sandwiches that Jeff really liked. But Jeff wasn't crazy about Annie's mom. She was always running around saying how busy she was and just seemed unfriendly.

Jeff liked playing with Annie. Sure she was a girl, and could sometimes be annoying. But she was nice and really fun. They could always come up with a fun game to play, like Egyptian Pharaohs and caterpillar crawling.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

While Jeff would have been happy to stay at his Aunt and Uncle's forever, his mom was determined to get their own place. Each night she would look through the paper for apartments. She even dragged Jeff along to a few of them when she'd get home from work.

"Dory, can I talk to you for a moment?" Sheila asked her sister one morning.

"Okay, but make it quick. Since its Saturday I want to look at a few places," she said as she circled a listing in the apartment rent section.

"You do know you don't have to keep looking for a place to live. You're more than welcome to stay in the apartment downstairs."

"I know, you keep telling me," Doreen said, annoyed that her sister wouldn't let it go. "But I don't want to be a bother."

"You live downstairs, you aren't a bother. I don't know why you don't stay there. You'd save money not having to pay rent at another place and you'll be with family. And you have to think about what's best for Jeff."

"Are you saying I don't care about my son?" she said in anger.

"No Dory, that's not what…" Sheila sighed as she pulled her sister over to the window that looked out into the backyard. "Look."

"What am I supposed to be looking at?

"Just look," she said as she pointed to Jeff and Annie, who were happily chasing each other as they played some game. "This has been a tough time for Jeff, with his dad leaving and having to move. He hasn't even had to deal yet with going to a new school once summer is over. And since he's found a friend he can play with whenever he wants he's been happy. I think it's really helping him that he's met Annie, and it would be hard for him if he couldn't see her whenever he wants."

Doreen sighed deeply as she watched her son play, her resistance at permanently staying in the basement crumbling. "What about Brad? Doesn't he still want to rent the apartment out?"

"My husband has this insane theory that we'll get rich by renting it out to people," she said with exasperation. "Even though the last two tenants that stayed there were both nuts and always behind on the rent. Don't worry about him, I'll talk him out of his 'get rich' theory that apartment holds for him. So, are you ready to finally settle in for good?"

Doreen sighed as she hugged her sister, finally beaten down on the issue. "Fine, we'll stay. But I'm paying rent if I'm going to be living there."

"If you insist."

The two sisters walked outside, with Doreen calling her son over. The two kids ran to them as Doreen readied herself. "I have something to tell you Jeff. I've decided that we're going to keep living in the apartment here. We're not moving."

"We're not?" Jeff said. As his mom shook her head he yelled out in joy and grabbed Annie's hands as they both jumped up and down. "I'M NOT MOVING! WE CAN PLAY TOGETHER FOREVER!"

Whatever doubts Doreen had about staying were insignificant. Seeing her son this happy made it all worth it.

The next day Doreen was able to get the rest of their belongings out of storage, and within two weeks everything was unpacked and put away. As for rent, Sheila would simply say 'I'll figure it out later' every time Doreen brought up the issue. Eventually she just dropped the subject and accepted that she would be living there free of charge.

As for Brad, he only made a couple of feeble comments, which were always quieted when his wife would give him a look that said 'shut up about it already.' Eventually he realized his nephew and sister-in-law were there for good, and he'd have to come up with some other great money making scheme.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff sat on the floor of his aunt's living room, bored. Normally Annie would be here and they'd be playing, but she was visiting her Boobie. (His mom said it was pronounced Bubbie and meant grandmother, but Jeff still thought it sounded like Boobie.) She had left yesterday, which was Monday, and wouldn't be back until Thursday night, meaning she would be gone for four days.

The first day hadn't been that bad. He played by himself and his aunt brought him to the town pool. But today he was bored, and missed playing with his friend.

"Hi Jeff," his aunt said as she came into the living room with a basket of laundry. "You still miss Annie, huh?"

He nodded his head as his aunt sat on the couch and started folding clothes. "Is there anyone else I can play with until Annie gets back?"

She thought about the question as she folded the clothes, remembering when Jeff asked it when he first moved in. "Let's see…the Hawthorne's have a son, Pierce. He's a couple years older than you, but you can probably play with him. I'll call them." With that she got up to look for her address book.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Your house is huge," Jeff said in awe as he looked around Pierce's mansion.

"Yeah, it's great. Let's play Street Fighter 2," Pierce eagerly said as he and Jeff went into the game room. They went past the billiards table to a large screen TV surrounded by an entertainment center that was bursting with video tapes and several gaming consoles. He cleaned his glasses (which Jeff noticed he had a habit of doing) before unraveling the controls and setting up the game. "I'm really good."

"I've never played before."

"Why not?" Pierce asked.

"We don't have any video games at my house," Jeff explained.

"You don't have any video games?" Pierce asked in surprise. "I thought all kids had video games."

"Well I don't," Jeff said, somewhat embarrassed by this confession.

"That's weird. Well get ready Winger, cause I'm about to kick your virtual butt," the nine year old announced as he handed Jeff a controller. "YES! BEAT YOU!" Pierce yelled as Jeff's character was defeated by his. "Now I'll perform the flying energy blast and, beat you again!"

"No fair, I've never played before," Jeff whined.

"Pierceinald." The boys looked over as an older man wearing a weird hard white helmet came into the room. "Have you seen your mother?"

"She's out in the garden. Hey, you want to see me beat Jeff in video games?"

"I should think not." Pierce's father looked at Jeff with distain before leaving the room.

"What's that thing your dad has on his head?" Jeff asked.

"That's his hair piece," Pierce explained. "He says it's made from ivory because wigs have hair that comes from the wrong people."

"What do you mean, the wrong people?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know. He just says some people are better than others."

As the boys played the game Jeff thought about what Pierce said. _What does he mean, some people are better than others_, Jeff mulled over. Did it mean some people were good and others, like robbers-and his dad-were bad people? Or did it have to do with people who were nice and people who weren't?

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff enjoyed the rest of the summer, having a great time. He went to visit Pierce at his mansion a few more times. True, Pierce could be annoying at times. He was a sore loser and liked to gloat when he did win. And he preferred watching black and white movies instead of ones in color. (Though Jeff did like the one with the giant ape that climbed the empire state building.) And Jeff got the impression Pierce's dad didn't like him at all. But Jeff liked having someone else to play with, and Pierce had every video game and system imaginable.

Jeff also ended up meeting other kids around the neighborhood. Like Charlie, who was really good at playing Frisbee. And a tall laid back kid named Vaughn who was really into hacky sack and playing the guitar.

But of all the friends he made that summer, Annie was by far the one he liked best. He even thought she might just be his best friend. True, she was a girl. But somehow that didn't seem to matter all that much.


	3. Chapter 3

"Aren't you excited Jeff? School starts in a few days," his mom reminded him.

"I don't think any kid is excited to end summer and go back to school," Uncle Brad stated with a chuckle.

"Annie is," Jeff announced. "She can't wait to go back to school. She has a trapper keeper and pencils and folders with unicorns on it."

"That reminds me, we should probably get the supplies you need." His mom got up to get the list the school had mailed out, leaving Jeff with his uncle at his aunt and uncle's kitchen table.

Jeff wasn't looking forward to going back to school. Because he had moved he would be in a different school then he was last year, and wouldn't know anyone. And worst of all, he wouldn't even be able to see Annie. She would be starting first grade, while he would be going into second. They could always play during recess (grades 1-3 were in one recess period while grades 4-6 were in another). But he still wished they would be in the same grade together.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A few days later summer officially ended, and it was the first day of school. Jeff nervously waited in front of the large brick building for the doors to open. Buses kept coming by and letting more kids flood into the area. Children met up with friends of theirs, catching up and comparing how the summer went.

Jeff kept a lookout for Annie, hoping he might see her before the doors opened and class started. She has said her dad would be driving her in today, so she hadn't been on the bus that picked him up. He really wanted her there to help make things better.

"Jeff."

He turned around, shocked by who was speaking to him. "Alan?"

"Hey, how's it going?"

"What are you doing here?" Jeff asked.

"Parents moved, so I'm going to this school now," he said in a would be casual tone.

"My mom and I moved too."

Alan nodded his head before opening his backpack. "Check this out." He pulled out a large number of pixie sticks and gave a handful to Jeff. "My dad's delivering pixie sticks, and he gets crates of this stuff for free. I'm going to sell them for a nickel each, but because you're my friend I'll give you some on the house. Just be sure to tell people where you got them from."

"Thanks," Jeff said just as the doors opened and everyone started heading to class. _Maybe school won't be that bad after all_, he thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Overall, things weren't as bad as Jeff thought they'd be. Most of the boys in Jeff's class seemed to like him. True, Alan wasn't in his class (Alan had Mr. Blackwald while Jeff had Mrs. Bennett), but Jeff was still glad he already had a friend in his own grade.

Being the first day, things were more introductory then actual learning. In no time it was lunch time, followed by recess. All the lower classmen ran outside, eager to play.

"Jeff!"

Jeff looked over in delight as Annie ran over to him. "Annie, hi. I didn't see you when everyone was waiting before."

"My dad left late and we just got here just before class started. I love school!" she squealed in delight. "We're going to have show and tell and field trips. And my teacher is impressed that I already know how to read and write and add and subtract. She said I know a lot more than other first graders."

"Jeff!" The two of them looked over as Alan came over, along with a kid wearing a paper top-hat and an energetic looking black boy. "This is Alex and Troy. We're setting up a game of kickball. You want to play?"

Jeff nodded his head as Annie eagerly said, "We'd love to play."

"Yeah, you can't come," Alan told her.

"Why not?"

"Because you're a girl," Troy said with a snicker, as if that was an obvious explanation.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means girls can't play kickball. Just guys," Alan said.

"That's not fair, I want to play!" she whined.

"Well boohoo, you can't. Get lost." The two other boys ran off to recruit other boys to play while Alan looked over at Jeff. "Jeff come on. Ditch the girl and play kickball with us. Come on."

Jeff looked between the two of them, not sure what to do. Feeling bad about his decision he went off with Alan to the block top. "Sorry," he feebly said to Annie, not able to look at the shocked and hurt expression on her face.

In no time enough kids had been gathered and bases were found and the game was on. As Jeff went up to kick the ball he looked off into the distance, seeing Annie standing there crying and then running off.

"Jeff, focus," Alan yelled as the ball rolled right past Jeff.

"Okay." He readied to kick it again, trying to ignore the squirming feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you okay Jeff?" his mom asked as she set dinner on their apartment table. "You've been quiet ever since I got home, and your aunt said you weren't talking much earlier."

"I'm fine."

She looked at her son, not convinced by the tone in his voice. "Did something happen today at school?"

Before he could answer the telephone rang. Doreen got up and answered the phone. "Hello…oh, hi Frank…no, I haven't had a chance to talk to Jeff…oh…oh really…I see…that's too bad…I'll definitely talk to him about it. Have a good night." She looked at her son as she went back to table. "That was Annie's father. He said she's really upset because you wouldn't play with her today at recess."

"My friend Alan and a bunch of guys were playing kickball and asked me to play with them," Jeff explained. "And they said girls can't play."

"So you felt you had to abandon Annie or else you couldn't play with these boys?" she said thoughtfully.

"Exactly," he said, hoping his mother would understand the situation.

Doreen sighed deeply at hearing this. "Jeffrey, that was a really mean thing to do to Annie. You just ditched her, even though you two are friends. Her dad said she's been crying about it ever since she came home."

Jeff looked down at his lap, hating that he made Annie cry. "But they said she couldn't play."

"Jeff, do you know what peer pressure is?" She waited as he shook head no before continuing. "It's when people encourage you to do something you wouldn't normally do. It sounds like you didn't want to leave Annie, but did it anyway because Alan and these other boys pressured you to. It's up to you how you do things, but it seems like these boys aren't that nice if they're going to exclude others. And because of them you ended up hurting someone you really care about. I think the next time you see Annie you should apologize and see if she can play to."

"But they said girls can't play," Jeff repeated, as if it was a cardinal rule. "They won't let me play if I tell them Annie has to play to

"Well then, you have to ask yourself who you would rather play with. A bunch of boys you just met who like to exclude others, or someone you've grown really close to who happens to be a girl."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day it rained, and Jeff ended up being driven to school so he wouldn't have to wait for the bus in the rain. That and everyone having to stay in their classrooms for recess meant that Jeff didn't get a chance to see Annie. Though truth be told, Jeff a little relieved to put it off for a bit.

But on the third day, Jeff discovered he would be seeing a lot more of Annie. First he saw her when he went to the bus stop at the end of the street and her dad dropped her off there. He tried to talk to her but she flatly ignored him, and refused to sit next to him when they got on the bus.

When they got to school they went to their respective classrooms. As he waited at his desk for class to start another teacher stuck her head into the classroom. Mrs. Bennett went out into the hallway to talk to the teacher. When she came back Jeff was shocked to see Annie was with her.

As first Jeff thought he was in trouble for what he did to Annie. He waited on baited breath as Mrs. Bennett brought Annie to the front of the classroom. "Class, settle down," she called out. "Before we start I want to make an announcement. We're going to have a new student joining us. I want you all to say hello to Annie Edison."

The class said 'Hello Annie' in the same monotone before Clive Parker piped up. "I thought she was in first grade?"

"Well, Annie is an exceptionally bright student, and her teacher felt it would be better for her to go right onto second grade," Mrs. Bennett explained.

Everyone started talking among themselves over this, never having known anyone who skipped a grade before. "I want to move onto third grade," Mike Handley announced.

"That's up to your teacher to decide that. Now I want everyone to take out their note books so we can begin today's math lesson. Annie, why don't you find an empty desk."

Annie went over to an empty seat in the second row, making a point to keep her head focused upfront. Jeff tried to get her attention all morning by covertly throwing balled up notes at her. But besides from glaring back to him once she ignored his attempts to get her attention.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Annie made a point not to sit with Jeff at lunch time, and went off by herself once everyone went out for recess. "Annie wait!" Jeff called out as he went over to her.

"I don't want to talk to you!" she angrily replied.

"I'm sorry, okay," Jeff repeated, having apologized already when they were waiting for the bus. "I'm sorry I ditched you the other day."

"That was really mean of you," she said, trying desperately not to cry. "I thought we were friends."

"We are," Jeff said.

"Well friends don't abandon each other like that."

"Jeff!" Alan called out as he came over holding a kickball. "We're playing another game. Come on."

Jeff debated with himself for a moment before deciding what to do. "I'll play if Annie can play to."

"What? She's a girl. She can't play," Alan declared.

"Well, Annie's my friend and I'm not leaving her. So either she plays too, or I don't play," Jeff announced.

Alan glared at Annie before reluctantly nodding his head. "Fine, the _girl_ can play." Annie looked at Jeff in surprise as he took her hand and lead her to the other boys. "Guys, a _girl_ is playing kickball with us today," Alan announced. While some protested, most of them just genially accepted it.

Soon the game was underway, and it was Annie's time to kick. Alan, who was pitching, sneered as she came up to home plate. "I'll take it easy on you," he yelled out before rolling the ball as fast and as hard as he could. It rocketed forward and struck Annie hard against her legs, causing her to yell out in pain. "Strike one!"

"Hey, don't hurt her!" Jeff yelled out.

"If she can't handle it, then she doesn't have to play!" Alan announced, while Troy snickered at Annie's discomfort. He waited until the ball was sent back to him before pitching it to Annie, again with much more force than necessary. But this time Annie was ready, and managed to kick the ball and cause it to sail away. She ran with all her might, rounding first and second base as the boys in the outfield scrambled to get the ball. They finally rolled it in as Annie ran past third and headed for home. Alan caught the ball and threw it as hard as he could at Annie. It just missed her head as she fell onto home plate and got a home run.

"Woo hoo Annie," Jeff called out. Unfortunately, Jeff was the only boy who was enthusiastic over Annie's victory, since most of the other boys (including the ones on her team) were put off at a girl who was smaller and younger than they were getting a home run. But Annie shrugged it off. Instead she smiled as she got up, happy she got a home run and showed up Alan, even if her knees were now scraped.

As the game progressed Annie easily proved to be the best player. At her next time at bat she managed to get onto third before being tagged out. And even though she was designated to the far outfield she still managed to help stop the other team from getting to many runs. By the end of the game her team won 7 to 3, with herself playing a large part in the victory.

After that Alan stopped organizing kickball games at recess, and no one else took on the initiative to start it up. Alan also didn't talk to Jeff that much afterwards, and told him he wouldn't be giving out any more pixie sticks for free. Jeff felt a little bad that Alan didn't want to be friends with him anymore, but he knew he had done the right thing regarding kickball.

He knew it was right because he and Annie were friends again, and that made everything better. Not wanting to abandon her again, he made a point to stick up for her when classmates groaned at Annie always knowing the answer and being the first one to raise her hand in class. Even Alan making fun of him for having a girl as his best friend didn't stop him from sticking by her. He knew how bad it was when he hurt her, and hoped he never caused her to feel like that ever again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

While Alan could be a pain, he was far from the worst bully that roamed the school. That title belonged to a third grader named Shirley Bennett. Or as she was more commonly known, Big Cheddar.

Jeff got his first taste of her during the second week of school. He had gotten on the lunch line to get some juice (his mom had forgotten to put a drink in the lunch she packed for him.) As he waited on line he saw two girls arguing at one of the tables. One was a redheaded girl with glasses, while the other was a bigger black girl with really poofy hair. The two of them argued when all of a sudden the black girl pushed the other girl to the ground. Before the other girl could react her attacker sat on her back and bent her arm back while rubbing the girl's face against the floor. Kids quickly crowded around (Jeff included) to watch the spectacle.

"Say it!" she yelled at the crying girl. "Say you're a four-eyed loser!"

"I'm a four-eyed loser!" the girl cried out, her voice muffled from being pushed into the floor.

At that point a teacher broke through the crowd and managed to pull the girls apart. "That's right!" the attacker yelled as she was led to the principal's office. "Don't mess with Big Cheddar!"

"That's Big Cheddar?" Jeff said in fearful wonder, his fear of that girl suddenly increased tenfold. He had heard about Big Cheddar and was told not to mess with her. But actually knowing who she was and seeing her in action made Jeff hope he never got on her bad side.

"Wow, now that's a woman." Jeff looked around, seeing Pierce standing next to him. "I'd like her to push me into the ground, if you know what I mean," he said gleefully as he elbowed Jeff. Jeff just shrugged noncommittally, since he honestly had no idea what Pierce was talking about.


	4. Chapter 4

Jeff groaned as he sat in his sitter's kitchen doing his homework. Since his aunt was teaching again he now had go to Mrs. McCormic's house after school, who lived a few house down from his bus stop. He didn't like going there. The place smelled like moth balls, and she had a dozen cats that liked to claw at his legs.

He looked over at the calendar that was hanging from the refrigerator, again taking in that counting today it was still four days until Halloween. After Christmas and his birthday, Halloween was his favorite holiday. You got to dress up in a fun costume and get free candy, and there were special scary episodes of his favorite shows. Who wouldn't like that?

His mom finally arrived at 4:30pm, and brought Jeff home. When they got into their apartment she told him she had a surprise for him. "Here you go young man," she said as she handed him a pirate costume kit. "See, it came with a red bandana, an eye patch, and a clip on gold earring. And I'm going to get you a few things from Good Will to make pirate clothes for your costume."

"Cool, thanks mom," he said enthusiastically as he opened the package and looked at the costume pieces.

"And I have some more good news. I rearranged some things at work and I'm taking a half day that day. So now I can take you trick or treating after school."

Jeff looked at his mother before deciding to ask her something he had come up with earlier. "Can Annie sleep over on Halloween? Then we can trick or treat together and watch scary movies and it's on a Friday so there's no school the next day."

"Well…if it's okay with Annie's parents I don't see a problem with that." She couldn't help smiling at Jeff's excitement at the news. "You really like Annie, don't you?"

"Of course I like her," Jeff said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She's my best friend."

"And I remember how you didn't want play with her at first because she was a girl," his mom reminded him.

"She's just Annie. I don't even think of her as a girl anymore. I mean, I know she's a girl, but she's not a _girl,_" he stressed

"You notice she's a girl someday when you're older than seven," Doreen said thoughtfully. "She actually is quite pretty."

"EW!"

"Your uncle's right. Boys will be boys. Let me just talk to Annie's parents and see if they're okay with Annie staying over." With that Doreen got on the phone and called Annie's house. "Hello, Mariel. Its Doreen…I'm good. Listen, I wanted to know if it would be all right if Annie spent the night here on Halloween. Jeff wants her to trick or treat with him and then have a little sleepover…I'm sorry, what?" She frowned deeply as she listened to Mariel's response. "You do know they're six and seven and don't even know what…to them 'fooling around' is making funny faces…okay, let me speak openly for a moment. If you don't want to 'perverse their childish innocence', then the simple way to avoid that is to let her sleep over her friend's house. Because Annie is an inquisitive girl and will probably ask you why she can't come and stay over. And I know Jeff will ask me why he can't see his friend. And by telling them your reasons for objection it will just lead to more questions from them. Questions I'm sure you would rather wait a few years before they have to be answered…oh, so you've decided to change your mind. Well I look forward to telling that to Jeff. Good day."

She sighed in exasperation as she hung up the phone, before seeing her son standing there looking at her wide eyed. "Was Annie's mom mad," he asked, correctly guessing who his mom was speaking to on the phone.

"She…she just had a couple questions," Doreen said, greatly fudging the truth. "But she said it's okay if Annie spends the night."

"All Right!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

At last Halloween arrived, much to Annie and Jeff's delight. While school was fun that day with a class party with cookies and punch, neither of them could wait for it to be over so they could trick or treat together and have their sleepover. Once school finally let out Jeff and Annie got on the bus, talking excitedly about their planned evening. They agreed to trade whatever candy they got with each other once they got back to Jeff's house afterwards.

When they were let out at their bus stop they saw both of their moms waiting for them. Jeff went home while Annie went with her mom so she could change into her costume and get her stuff for their sleepover.

"Where are they?" Jeff asked impatiently as he looked out their apartment door again. He had changed into his costume as soon as he got home (along with the accessories from the pirate kit he had on baggy black pants cut into pantaloons and an old dress shirt his mom had added ruffles to). Once he was ready he waited for Annie to arrive, growing more anxious the longer he had to wait.

"It hasn't even been fifteen minutes. Just hold your horses," his mom told him.

Jeff sighed as he looked out the door. Finally he smiled as Annie's car pulled up in front of his aunt's house. "They're here!" he announced as he ran outside, his mom following.

"Hi!" Annie yelled as she got out of the car. She was wearing a flowing purple princess dress with big dragonfly like wings attached to her back, and a plastic tiara atop her head. "I'm a fairy princess."

"She couldn't decide between being a fairy or a princess, so she decided to be both," her mother said distastefully. She set down Annie's sleeping bag and overnight bag (which looked like a child's size piece of luggage complete with wheels and a pull out handle) before making sure she had her daughter's attention. "Now Annie, remember tonight that you're to change into your pajamas in a different room then Jeff, and are to sleep in your own sleeping bag. Understand?"

"Okay?" Annie answered back questionably, since she hadn't even thought about doing otherwise.

"Mariel," Doreen pointedly said.

"I'm just setting down a few ground rules," she said in a false would be casual tone.

Doreen strongly resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that comment. "I'll call tomorrow after the kids wake up and have breakfast. I rented a couple movies for them to watch tonight. Hocus Pocus and Charlie Brown's Halloween. I just wanted to check if it's alright if Annie watches them."

"Alright, sure," Mariel said. "Annie, you have fun tonight and I'll pick you up tomorrow. And remember, don't go away from Mrs. Winger when your trick or treating and don't eat anything that looks strange or dangerous." With that she quickly kissed her daughter goodbye before getting back in the car and driving off.

The two kids waited for Jeff's mom to put Annie's stuff inside before they could finally set off. They excitedly ran to the house next door, Doreen briskly walking to keep up with them. Jeff and Annie knocked on the door at the same time, waiting only a moment before their neighbor Mrs. Kensington opened the door. "Trick or Treat!" they happily said in near unison.

"Oh, how adorable. Here's some candy to the scary pirate. And some candy to the cute princess."

"Thank you!" they both said as they set off for the next house. Suddenly they both ducked as a kid on a bike wearing a plastic tiger mask threw eggs at them.

"Ben! I swear I'm going to call your mom and tell her what you're doing!" Doreen yelled.

"No one can stop El Tigre!" Ben Chang yelled out as he peddled away in search of other victims.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, you think you've had enough and are ready to start heading home?" Doreen asked after they had walked five blocks.

"I'm not tired," Jeff declared. "Are you Annie?"

"I'm good. Unless you want to go home Mrs. Winger?"

"No, we can keep going," Doreen sighed, figuring they could at least go on until it started getting dark. She frowned as she saw a big girl push another kid to the ground and grab his candy bag. "That's not right."

"That's Big Cheddar," Annie said in fear.

"Who?" Doreen asked.

"She goes to our school," Jeff explained. "She's really mean. No one messes with her."

"Come on," Doreen said as she took Jeff and Annie by their hands. As she led them to the next house Shirley watched them go by. While she would have loved to riffle through their half full bags, she knew better than to try anything while they had an adult with them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Eventually the sun started to set and their sacks became so full they were ready to burst, causing Doreen to decide it was time to go home. Once they made it back she got on the phone to order a pizza for dinner. Jeff and Annie sat on the floor and dumped out all their candy as they began trading and bartering with one another.

"I'll give you two Snickers for a 3 Musketeers bar," Jeff proposed.

"I only have two 3 Musketeers bars," Annie whined.

"That's why I'm giving you two Snickers. I'll even give you a Skittles too," he said, since he didn't like Skittles.

She thought about it for a second before stating, "I'll give you a 3 Musketeers bar for two Snickers, a Skittles, and a Tootsie Pop."

"No! That's not fair! I'm not giving you four pieces of candy for one," he complained.

She drummed her little fingers against her chin as she contemplated how to proceed. "How about…you give me two Snickers, a Skittles, a Tootsie Pop and a candy necklace, and I'll give you a 3 Musketeers _and_ my popcorn ball."

"You'd give that to me?" Jeff asked in awe. While they had gotten a lot of good stuff, the chocolate covered popcorn balls they got from the house with a toy skeleton in the bird bath was easily the best and most coveted item they'd received. Jeff couldn't believe she would dare part with hers.

"Yup. If you give me the other candy."

"Okay, deal."

With that Jeff gave Annie her requested five pieces of candy, also throwing in a vanilla Tootsie Roll, while Annie gave Jeff one of her 3 Musketeers bars and her popcorn ball. They continued to trade candy with each other until the pizza arrived. After they ate dinner Jeff's mom gave them another surprise, which were large chocolate cupcakes with orange icing and candy corn for desert. "Why don't you two change into your jammies before having dessert, and then I'll put on a movie."

"Okay. Thank you Mrs. Winger," Annie said before taking her mini suitcase and going into the bathroom.

After they came back in their pajamas (Annie in pink ones with white horses, Jeff in red and blue ones with Spider-Man) they ate their cupcakes while Doreen cleaned up. "Now kids, since you've already had a cupcake I don't want you eating a bunch of candy and getting sick." She put each of their piles into two big bowls and put the bowls on top of the refrigerator before taking a few pieces from each and giving them to the children. "Here's some for tonight, but that's it."

"Okay Mom. Can we sleep in the living room and build a blanket fort?" Jeff eagerly asked his mom while Annie enthusiastically nodded her head.

"A blanket fort," she stated, her voice equally full of exasperation and amusement at the request. "Alright sure. But you have to clean it up tomorrow." She looked around, not seeing too many needed materials. "Let me just see if your aunt and uncle have anything you can use," she told them as she went upstairs.

A few minutes later Doreen came downstairs with Brad, both their arms loaded down with blankets and sheets. "Here you go kids," Jeff uncle said as they dropped everything in the living room. "This should help you with your project. You need any pointers?"

"We're good, thanks," Jeff told him.

"We'll be upstairs if you need anything," Doreen told the two of them before she and Brad went upstairs to watch TV with Sheila.

"We need to create walls out of cushions to put the sheets and blankets over," Jeff told Annie as he pulled the cushions off the couch.

"No," she countered. "We can make walls out of sheets. We need to make a pole in the middle, like at the circus."

"No, my way is better," he insisted.

"No, my way is better!" she yelled back.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

While construction was a bit rocky starting off, they were able to build a blanket fort together.

"I never want to be a grown up," Jeff declared as they sat in the fort. "Cause then I couldn't have an awesome fort like this."

"I know," she sadly agreed with him. "Why don't grownups ever make blanket forts?"

"Cause they're old and stupid."

She giggled at his response before frowning at the movie they were watching. "Why does everyone keep giving Charlie Brown rocks? He should get candy also."

"I don't know?"

"Well, we should send him some of our candy, since he didn't get any."

Jeff nodded in agreement at Annie's suggestion. "Yeah, but I don't know his address."

"Then let's get it. Tom…orrow," Annie said as she let out a big yawn.

An hour later Doreen came back downstairs to check on the kids and turn in for the night. She found them in their sleeping bags in their blanket fort, fast asleep. She smiled as she turned off the TV before heading to bed herself.


	5. Chapter 5

"How does a bowling party for your birthday sound?" Doreen asked her son. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yeah, that's good."

She smiled as she took out a notepad. "Who do you want to invite? Obviously Annie," she said as she correctly guessed the first person Jeff was about to say. "That much is a given. Anyone else?"

"Pierce," Jeff said thoughtfully as he contemplated who to invite for his birthday. "Vaughn. Alan."

"I thought you said you weren't friends with Alan anymore after you made him let Annie play kickball?"

"No, we're friends again. He just won't play kickball at recess anymore."

Doreen chuckled as she wrote Alan's name down, marveling at how fast little kids could mend friendships. "Anyone else?"

"Troy and Alex. They're more Alan's friends, but they can come too. Charlie. Mike. Nichole."

"Oh, another girl," his mom said teasingly.

"She's alright. And she can burp the alphabet when she has soda," Jeff stated in an impressed tone.

"Well, we wouldn't want to leave out someone with a talent like that."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Overall, Jeff's 8th birthday party was a fun time for all. The kids divided up into teams and were able to bowl two full games. True, Pierce got upset anytime he got a gutter ball and Alan would try and heckle Annie each time it was her time to bowl. But overall everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. And afterwards all the kids got souvenir bowling pins as a party favor.

After having hotdogs and soda in the party room (where Nichole showed off her burping talent and Alex made everyone laugh when he stuck paper stars to the side of his face), an ice cream cake was brought out and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' before Jeff blew out the candles. Then the birthday boy opened his gifts. He liked pretty much everything he got, though his favorites were a toy Triceratops from Charlie and a castle Lego set from Alex. After he opened his gifts the kids played video games in the arcade until everyone's parents came to pick them up.

All in all, it was a good birthday.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Am I Jewish?" Jeff asked his mom one night at dinner.

"No?" she told him, curious as to where this seemingly out of the blue question came from. "Why do you ask?"

"Because Annie is and she said she gets presents for eight days. Eight days!" he repeated excitedly.

"That's because she celebrates Hanukkah," Doreen explained. "Which is celebrated over eight days, and that's why she gets a present for each day."

Jeff nodded his head before asking, "So if we celebrated Hanukkah I could get presents for eight days?"

"Jeff, I told you. We don't celebrate Hanukkah because we're not Jewish. You'll be getting presents on Christmas."

"But Annie said she also celebrates Christmas too."

"That's probably because one of her parents is Jewish and the other isn't, so she celebrates both holidays."

"So if we celebrated both, I'd get a lot of presents like she does," he said excitedly.

"Jeff," his mom said with exasperation as she tried to think of how to quell her son's attempt to get more gifts. "Annie and you get the same amount of presents. It's just spaced out differently. She gets some of her gifts over Hanukkah, and the rest at Christmas, while you get all of your gifts on Christmas. But neither of you are getting more than the other. It's the same amount, just over a different time frame. Do you understand?"

Jeff nodded his head before saying, "So can we celebrate Christmas but I get some gifts early too?"

"No," Doreen said in annoyance. "You're getting all your gifts on Christmas day, just like you did last year and just like you will next year. You just had a birthday not too long ago; I think you can wait a few weeks for more presents."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Class!" Mrs. Bennett sternly stated as the class finally quieted down. "I know you're excited that you leave for Christmas break in…" She paused to look at the clock before continuing. "Twenty minutes. But can you please just read or talk quietly until then, instead of acting like unruly hooligans? Thank you."

The class continued to chit chat and talk, though at a lower volume then before. Annie smiled a little as she continued to read her book, glad that their teacher had quieted everyone down.

"Annie."

She looked around as Jeff dragged his chair over to sit next to her. "You excited? We're about to get two weeks off from school."

"I like school," she said simply.

"I _know_," he said with slight irritation. "But come on, it's two weeks off. Plus there's Christmas."

"Yeah," she replied without too much enthusiasm. While she was sure Christmas in general was fun, it wasn't usually a joyous time in her house. Usually it involved her mom complaining loudly about any decoration or activity her dad put up or tried to do. Last year they had gotten into a huge fight on Christmas Eve and her dad spent the night in the guest room. And then her parents got into another fight on Christmas morning and her mother left, and didn't come back home until late that night. Given how last year went Annie was somewhat apprehensive as to how thing were going to go this year. "I'm more excited about my birthday."

"It's the 29th, right?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah," she happily said, glad he remembered the date. "We're having a birthday party at my house the weekend before. You're coming, right?"

"Of course," he said, as if he would miss it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'll be right there!" Mariel called out as she opened the door, revealing Jeff and his aunt, who was holding a large wrapped package. "Hello, welcome to Annie's birthday party. Please come in."

"Thank you," Sheila responded as she and Jeff walked inside. They admired the decorations; the most prominent being a giant banner that read 'Happy 7th Birthday'. "It all looks so nice."

"Thank you. I had to put up everything myself. My husband was supposed to help, but he was busy with a work meeting this weekend. Never mind that I now have to do this whole thing by myself because someone decided to be born two weeks early during the middle of the holiday session. I guess _he_ just expects me to do it all, huh."

Sheila shifted the present in her arms awkwardly, uncomfortable with how Mariel was talking about her husband and daughter. "I was just going to go home until the party was over, but I'm happy to stay and help out if you need a hand."

Mariel sighed deeply, torn with the indignity of accepting charitable help, and not wanting to supervise a party with small children by herself. "Alright. Thanks you."

"No problem." The three of them went into the dining room, where all the other kids (plus the birthday girl) were sitting at the table. A quick glance saw that Jeff was the only boy in attendance. He recognized a couple of girls from his class, Nichole and Rachel. One girl, Carol, lived down the street from Annie. And the other girls were in Annie's dance class, which Jeff knew because he and his mom had one time picked Annie up from her dance studio.

"Jeff!" Annie waved Jeff over, having saved him a seat next to her. She waited until he was seated before strapping a pointy party hat onto his head.

"Hey, watch the hair." He looked around and noticed that most of the other girls were looking at him with a somewhat dreamy look in their eyes. And strangely, he didn't think it was all that terrible.

"Okay, everyone start singing!" Mrs. Edison called out as she came to the table holding a large strawberry cake. All the kids sang 'Happy Birthday' as Annie's mom set the cake in front of her daughter. Once they were done singing Annie blew out the candle, which was in the shape of a number seven.

"There we go," Mrs. Edison said as she cut the cake somewhat haphazardly while Jeff's aunt put pieces on plates and gave them to the children. "Once you're done eating we have parlor games to play, and then it'll be time to open presents. And then this party can be over," she finished saying under her breath (though Sheila managed to catch what she said.)

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thank you Carol," Annie called out as she unwrapped Carol's gift, a couple of books from the _Boxcar Children _series.

"Yes, that's very nice," Mariel said. "Now, let's see…I think this one is from your friend Jeff." She picked up the large wrapped package and handed it to her daughter.

Annie excitedly unwrapped it, letting out a gasp when she saw what it was. "AW! Thank you Jeff!" She held up the gift, which was a large Paddington Bear stuffed animal and a collection of Paddington stories.

"Oh, another stuffed animal," Mrs. Edison said with barely masked distain. Annie already had dozens of stuffed creatures taking up space in her room (and various other parts of the house.) In her opinion, her daughter had far too many. Plus she felt seven might be too old for such childish playthings.

Annie, however, remained completely oblivious to her mother's disapproval. She absolutely loved her new stuffed friend. Even though she still had two more presents to unwrap, she already knew Jeff's gift was her favorite.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay class, you can now exchange Valentines with one another," Mrs. Bennett told them. Everyone excitedly leapt from their seats and began to put Valentine cards on each other's desks.

Annie put one on each kid's desk before putting Jeff's card on his. Even though everyone was essentially getting the same thing (a superhero valentine with a piece of candy), Annie had still made sure to put a little more effort into Jeff's. She had made a point to give him a card with Spider-Man in it, and his candy was a mini 3 Musketeer's bar. She hoped he would notice the extra effort she put in for her best friend.

She went back to her desk and started looking through the cards she had received. Most were standard single paper cards with cartoon characters wishing you a Happy Valentine's day. But one card near the bottom of her pile stood out. It was a piece of folded over red construction paper. She opened the paper and saw a drawing of a dog running through a field. Underneath the drawing was written, _Happy Valentine's Day. Jeff_.

She smiled brightly as she looked over at Jeff, who shrugged like it was no big thing. Now she wished she had done something else. In comparison to Jeff's homemade card, what she gave him didn't seem as thoughtful.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the school year went by without much fanfare, and soon summer arrived again. In some ways Jeff was really looking forward to it. At least this summer he wouldn't have to deal with a parent leaving, and he knew where he was living. But there was one thing about this summer that Jeff wasn't looking forward to, and that was Annie going to summer camp. It was only day camp, and she said she's be home by 3pm every day. And they could still play on the weekends. But even so, he didn't like that they couldn't play together whenever they wanted, like they could last summer.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Jeff, look at my new spy headphones," Pierce said as he held up a pair of giant black headphones with antennas on each ear piece. "You put these on and you can listen to people talk from up to twenty feet away! Let's go to the Y and see if we can listen into the girl's locker room."

Jeff shrugged, not really into that suggestion. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"What are you, gay or something?"

"No!" Jeff yelled defensively.

"I'm just saying, that's a good reason for not wanting to spy on girls. Although you might not be. I wasn't quite the ladies' man I am now either when I was your age."

Jeff groaned, hating when Pierce acted like one of those old men in smoking jackets surrounded by much younger women. He looked at the cuckoo clock that hung over the stove in Pierce's kitchen, seeing that it was a little after 2pm "Annie will be back from camp soon. Let's wait until she gets back and then we can all do something."

"I don't get you two. What is she, your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend. She's my friend, who happens to be a girl."

"My dad says men and women can't be friends, and that women are only good for cleaning and cooking. And other stuff he said he'll tell me about when I'm twelve." Pierce sighed as Jeff looked at him in confusion. "Okay sure, let's wait until she gets back."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"We can play hide and seek?" Annie suggested as the three of them sat on the front lawn at Jeff's Aunt and Uncle's house. Or more accurately, Jeff and Annie were sitting while Pierce was laying down on his back.

"You can't play hide and seek with only three people," Jeff stated as he looked over and saw that Pierce was asleep on the grass. "Especially when one of us isn't even awake."

Annie then reached into her pocket and pulled out a braided nylon lanyard, which she handed to Jeff. "I made this today in camp. I want you to have it."

"Thanks." He put it around his neck before noticing the sad look in his friend's eyes. "Are you alright? Is everything okay with you and camp?"

"I hate it there," she said truthfully. "The other girls make fun of me and call me 'Egghead'."

"That's not nice. You're awesome and not an egghead. You're just smart." She giggled at Jeff's response as he pulled up blades of grass and tried to blow it like a whistle. He frowned when Annie pulled up a blade and did it on the first try. "Showoff. If you don't like camp, tell your parents you don't want to go? Then we can play all day, like last summer."

"I tried. My mom says I have to keep going, that they paid for me to go and I can't back out. She said it's good the other girls are making fun of me now, so I can learn to deal with it while I'm young."

"That's stupid."

She nodded in agreement as Pierce suddenly let out a loud snort like gasp as he woke up.

"What'd I miss?" He sat up and yawned loudly, while Annie and Jeff tried not to laugh at their friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

For Jeff, the summer of 1995 went by fairly uneventfully. He played with Pierce or Vaughn or Charlie most days. Sometimes he hung out with Alan (and occasionally Troy and Alex). So between everyone he had someone to play with pretty much every day.

And of course, he still saw Annie almost every day. They'd hang out when she'd get home from camp, and almost every weekend they were doing one thing or another. They went to the movies and saw _Pocahontas_ with his mom when that came out. Jeff wanted to see _Batman Forever_, but his mom said he and Annie were a little too young for it. While it wasn't as good as _The Lion King_, Jeff liked it enough. Plus Annie really liked it, so that was something. Jeff's aunt also took the two of them, (along with Pierce and Charlie) to Water World Colorado for a day of water park fun.

But while Jeff enjoyed his summer, Annie didn't like it nearly as much. She loved when she was done with camp and could hang out with her best friend. But as for camp itself…it was a nightmare. The girls teasing got worse and worse as time went on. And even worse, the councilors didn't seem that bothered that she was being picked on. Every night she would beg her mom to pull her out of the program. Even her dad would argue on her behalf. But Mariel Edison stayed firm on her decision, saying it wasn't good to quit something just because it's hard and it was good for Annie to make friends with people other than "that one boy you spend all your time with." (Even though Annie insisted she wasn't making any friends at camp because they all hated her.)

So Annie begrudgingly went to camp every morning, and was miserable until she came home. Every day she would count the days until school started again, and she was done with this horrid camp experience. By the time summer ended, she wasn't sure which parent she was madder at. Her mother for forcing her to continue going to camp in spite of her pleading not to, or her father for not stepping in and stopping her from going.


	6. Chapter 6

At last summer was over, and the school year started up again, much to Annie's delight. True, not everything worked out as she would have preferred. This year she and Jeff were not in the same class (she had Mrs. Krandle while he had Ms. Robins.) And there was still the occasional occurrence of being made fun of for answering questions with her noted vigor. But even those things didn't diminish that she was back in school after a long, painful absence. That, and knowing she would be learning new subjects, like fractions and social studies, made her glad to have 3rd grade underway.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Even though everyone in her class all introduced themselves on the first day, she didn't really notice him until the third day of school. It was during an English lesson, where their teacher was talking about senses in different species. "Now class, humans have a fairly limited sense of smell compared to other animals. Dogs can track people and other animals just from their sent. And sharks have an extremely acute sense of smell. They can smell a single drop of blood in hundreds of gallons of water. So if you're ever swimming in the ocean, never go in while you have a cut on your hand. Or else you might be attacked by a shark, like in the movie _Jaws_."

"But in _Jaws_ the shark never attacked anyone because they had a cut on their body."

The teacher looked towards the back of the room at the speaker, a skinny boy with unreadable eyes. "Yes, but I was just using that as an example-."

"The first victim died because she was swimming by herself at night," he continued. "The shark then killed the boy, Alex, because he was swimming on a raft away from the other children. Though that only happened to set up everyone seeing the death and believe the shark was a real threat, since the first death was covered up by the mayor as a 'boating accident' to keep tourism from dropping."

Mrs. Krandle cleared her throat, not pleased to have her lesson taken over by a student. "Alright…" She paused to consult her seating chart before addressing the child. "Abed, we are not talking about movies, we are talking about animal senses vs. human senses. I was just using the movie as an example, so it doesn't matter if it's technically accurate."

"But in the movie-."

"That's enough, alright," she sternly said, her voice taking on a tone of finality.

He looked at her before saying, "I'm guessing from your tone of voice you want me to stop talking now."

"Good boy," she condescendingly told him. "Now, back to the lesson. Birds have a greater sense of eye sight then humans have."

As Mrs. Krandle continued talking Annie turned her head toward the back of the room, seeing Abed writing in his notebook while nearby kids threw erasers and balled up pieces of paper at him. While she normally didn't like it when people interrupted a teacher's lesson, she couldn't help feeling bad for the kid for trying to prove he was right about something, and their teacher shooting him down like that.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hi." Annie said to Abed at recess. "I'm Annie."

"Hello. My name's Abed," he said right back.

"I thought Mrs. Krandle was mean to you before. You were just telling her she was wrong with the comparison she was making."

Just then they both shrieked (or more accurately, Annie shrieked and covered herself while Abed just covered his head,) as Alan threw pebbles at the two of them. "Hey, it's teacher's pet. And who's your new friend? He looks like a giant brown bird."

"Leave us alone Alan!" Annie yelled, having had enough of his bullying.

"Or what?" he gloated as he stuck his chin out. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Come on Alan, leave her alone," Jeff said as he quickly walked over to the three of them.

Alan scoffed and rubbed his sneakers against the ground, not wanting to get into it with Jeff. "You're lucky your _boyfriend_ is here Annster," he spat out before walking away.

"Why are you even friends with him?" Annie asked Jeff.

"He's alright," Jeff responded.

"He treats me terribly."

Jeff shrugged before looking over at Abed. "Hi. I'm Jeff."

"I know. Annie talked about you on our first day of school, when we talked about what we did over the summer. And I've seen you before. You seem like someone who would be a leading man, even in someone else's life. My dad says I should stop trying to compare real life to television and movies, but there are a lot of similarities between them. He gets mad when I do that, but he tends to get mad at a lot of other things too, which is why he and my mom have so many fights. Though a lot of their fights tend to be about me, even if they try to act like they're not. My name's Abed by the way."

Jeff looked at Annie's new friend for several moments before composing himself. "Um, okay. That's more information then I needed to know."

Annie glared at Jeff before looking over at Abed. "Do you want to play on the monkey bars with me and Jeff?"

"Okay."

As Abed made his way to the playground Annie noticed the look Jeff was giving her. "What?"

"Doesn't he seem kind of weird to you?"

"He's not that weird. And so what if he is? He looks like he could use a friend."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Annie, it's for you," her mom called out.

"Hello?" Annie said as she cradled the phone against her ear.

"_Hi, it's Jeff. My mom is taking me to see the movie Balto, and I wanted to know if you wanted to see it_?"

"Sure. Let me call Abed and see if he wants to come."

"_Wait, why are you calling Abed_?" Jeff asked.

"Because he loves seeing movies and I know he'd love to go. Why, is it a problem if he comes," she asked, having sensed the tone in Jeff's voice.

"_No, I just didn't…no that's fine. Call me back after you talk to Abed and then we'll pick you and him up_."

"Okay. See you later."

Jeff hung up the phone, a bit disappointed in the day's new development. He thought just he and Annie (and his mom) would be seeing the movie. He hadn't counted on Abed joining them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Look, over the horizon, it's the dreaded crab people!" Annie cried out.

"Quick, get the ray guns!" Abed yelled.

They pulled out their toy guns and pointed them towards Jeff, who stood at the far end of Abed's backyard. "Jeff, you're supposed to come out and attack us," Annie insisted.

"Why do I have to be the crap person?" he asked.

"Because I'm Jimmy the explorer and Annie's my ex-wife partner who comes with me in my space ship to explore the crab planet," Abed explained as he rehashed the plot of the bad sci-fi movie they had watched that morning.

Jeff groaned before reluctantly running towards them.

"You have to walk on all fours like a crab," Abed directed.

"Okay!" he said angrily. He got on his hands and feet and crab walked towards Annie and Abed, who made blasting noises as they fired their toy guns at him. He gasped and cried out as he fell down and pretended to die.

"We did it, we killed the crab person," Annie exclaimed. As she and Abed jumped around in victory Jeff watched them in frustration. Usually when he and Annie played games he always teamed up with her. But now she and Abed were the heroes and he was reduced to being the bad guy they killed.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As the weeks went by, Abed started spending more and more time with Jeff and Annie. He's sit with them at lunch and played with them at recess. On weekends he would play with Jeff and Annie, or just Annie if Jeff wasn't around. And on Halloween he and Annie dressed up like Smurfette and Brainy Smurf. They tried to get Jeff to dress up like Papa Smurf, but instead he went as a cowboy.

While things should have been fine with the three of them, Annie knew something was off. Whenever they were together Annie felt like Jeff was kind of unfriendly towards Abed. And whenever Abed suggested doing something (which usually involved watching a movie or TV show), Jeff was quick to shoot it down. As time went on she began to become annoyed at Annie's treatment of their friend.

"I don't hate Abed," Jeff insisted one day after school.

"Then why are you always mean to him? You never want to do anything he wants to do."

"That's because all he wants to do is watch TV," Jeff countered.

"And you always get standoffish whenever I suggest he does something with us. Why don't you like him?"

Jeff looked at the ground, hoping to avoid answering her question. Luckily for him his mom just then told them it was dinnertime and Annie had to go home, putting an end to their argument.

That evening Jeff sat in his room, thinking about his argument with Annie. To be fair Abed wasn't all that bad. True, he was quiet and kind of weird. But overall he wasn't a bad guy. But for some reason, Jeff just didn't like it that he and Annie were suddenly hanging out all the time. He knew it was stupid, since Annie had plenty of other guy friends, like Pierce, and Charlie, and Vaughn, and Alan.

_Except their not really her friends_, he thought. _They're my friends, and she just happens to hang out with them. _

And somehow made all the difference, he realized. Before when they hung out with people, it was him and her with Jeff's friends. Or him and her with Annie's friends, who were always other girls. But this time it was a friend of Annie's who happened to also be a guy. And while he couldn't figure out why, there was just something about that that bothered him.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, we're here," Mrs. McCormic said as she pulled up in front of his aunt's house. Jeff wondered why she was announcing their arrival, since he knew where he lived. But mostly he was glad his sitter's house was being painted, and she was watching him at his place for the next few days. Hopefully his mom could persuade her to have him permanently watched at his apartment instead of at her house with her dozens of vicious cats.

"Oh, before I forget, I got you something for your birthday." She reached into the ToysRUs bag in the back seat and pulled out a red Power Ranger toy. "Here you go," she said as she handed the package to Jeff. "I'm not exactly sure what boys like to play with. But I know that they like action figures."

"Thank you Mrs. McCormic." True, Jeff wasn't really into Power Rangers. But he was polite enough not to say that. And besides, he could always use it with his Spider-Man figurers and pretend it was a new villain Spidey had to fight.

"You're welcome. You're turning nine, right?"

"Correct," he said as they got out of her car.

They cut across the yard and went to his apartment, Jeff opening the power ranger as his sitter extracted the mail from the mailbox on the door. "Hopefully the painters can finish the job today. I can't stand keeping my cats locked in the greenhouse. Oh, here's something for you Jeffrey."

Jeff took the letter from his sitter's hands, and then froze in shock when he saw who it was from. It was a letter from his father. "Are you alright?" Mrs. Mccormic asked.

"I'm fine," he vaguely said before going to his room. Once the door was closed he slid his trembling fingers through the envelope and opened it, revealing a birthday card with a picture of a dinosaur on the front. He opened the card, seeing that a $10 bill was inside. And written were three words; 'Happy Birthday. Dad.'

Jeff stood there, a hollow feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't heard from his dad at all since the day he walked out on them, which was over a year ago. And now he randomly received a birthday card from the man. He thought he'd feel better at having some sort of communication from his dad after all this time. But instead Jeff felt like an old wound had been brought to the surface.

Jeff went to his bed and fell asleep on top of it, wanting a distraction so he couldn't face his feelings. When he woke up it was dark and he heard his mom talking to his sitter outside. He crept to his bedroom door so he could listen in.

"I'm not mad at you, since you didn't know the exact circumstances involving my ex-husband and me separating. But in the future, if William sends Jeff mail or tries to call to talk to him, I would prefer that my son has no contact with him."

"I understand."

Jeff was filled with anger upon hearing that. Now he didn't even have a choice on if he heard from his father again or not. He wanted to scream and yell at both of them. But instead he ran back to bed as he heard the two of them approach his room. He pretended to be asleep as his mom tried to have him say goodbye to Mrs. McCormic. He was afraid his mom would want to talk to him about the card if she knew he was awake. And all he wanted to do was ignore the pain he was feeling.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day at school Jeff didn't talk to anyone, even when people asked about the birthday party he was supposed to have over the weekend. He shut everyone out, from the teacher to his classmates. Instead he sat there in silence, letting his anger build and build. Annie tried to get Jeff to reveal what was troubling him at lunch. But even her efforts couldn't get him to open up.

Once they were let out for recess Jeff quickly walked away, wanting to get as far away from everyone (including his best friend) as possible. But as he was walking he heard someone call out, "Jeff." He openly groaned as he realized who the speaker was.

"Leave me alone Abed," he said, since Abed was the last person he wanted to talk to.

"From the look on your face you seem to be going through the beginnings of a hero's journey," Abed said, keeping step as Jeff hurryingly tried to walk away. "I was watching _Jason and the Argonauts_ on television the other night and you kind of seem like him at the beginning when-."

"SHUT UP!" Jeff screamed, his frustration about everything (his father's abandonment, his friendship with Annie being usurped) roaring out of him. Barely aware of what he was doing he pushed Abed as hard as he could, causing the boy to fall right on his butt.

Jeff waited for Abed to get up, to start yelling at him or even throw a punch. What he didn't expect was for Abed to stare up at him in shock before admitting a high shrieked wailing sound. "Stop it," he said nervously as Abed's wailing rose in pitch. "I'm sorry, okay? Stop it!" He looked around in fear as people started to gather around them. "Snap out of it!" he yelled as he knelt down and shook Abed.

"Oh my God, Abed!" Jeff had just enough time to see Annie make her way through the crowd before she shoved him out of the way and held her friend by his shoulders. While Annie's presence caused him to stop shrieking, he still remained still and quiet, like a comatose patient whose eyes were open. "What did you do to him?" she asked Jeff angrily.

"I didn't do anything. I pushed him and he just lost it."

Without another word Annie pulled Abed up and led him away from the crowd, ignoring Jeff's attempts to try and explain himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

That night Jeff had trouble sleeping, his mind focusing on something other than his own issues. He still thought Abed was weird, but he never meant to upset the kid like he had. By the time it was morning he knew he had to try and apologize to him.

But Abed wasn't in school that day. Jeff looked for him all during recess, but wasn't able to find him. He tried asking Annie if she knew where Abed was, but besides yelling at him to leave her alone she wasn't talking to him.

"Annie come on," he said the following day at recess when Abed again didn't show up. "I just want to apologize to Abed. I know I upset him-."

"You really think what happened yesterday was all about you!" she yelled. "The reason Abed was so upset is because his parents are getting a divorce and he has to move. He and his dad left yesterday. That's why he isn't here."

"Wait, what?" Jeff said in complete shock. "I…I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't! You never listened to anything he ever said. Or paid attention on how for the last month he always had us watch movies on divorce and parent's separating. No, the only time you paid attention to him was to rag on him, or get upset that I was trying to be there for someone when they were going through something. Well…screw you!"

With that she turned on her heels and marched off, leaving Jeff along with nothing but his guilt.


	7. Chapter 7

Naïvely, a part of Jeff hoped Annie would calm down in a day or two and they could talk about what had happened. But despite his calls and attempts to talk to her during and after school, she remained adamant on wanting nothing to do with him, and acted like he didn't exist. She didn't even go to his birthday party, which put a damper on the whole experience.

"Are you and Annie still fighting?" Jeff's mom asked a few days after his birthday.

"Yes," he said gloomily. "I keep trying to talk to her but she just ignores me."

"Well, just give her time. You two have been friends for a while, and everyone makes mistakes. I doubt she'll stay mad at you forever."

But as the weeks rolled by, Jeff was starting to think this was too big of a mess up to fix. No matter what he did Annie refused to speak to him. He knew he screwed up, but she could at least hear him out instead of ignoring him.

When her eighth birthday came and he didn't even get an invite to her party (even after he left a pink scarf and stationary on her front stoop with a card), Jeff had had it. He kept trying to make up for what had happened with Abed and she flatly refused to acknowledge him. If things between them meant so little to her after almost a year and a half of friendship, then Jeff wasn't going to beg for forgiveness anymore. If she didn't want to be friends anymore, then so be it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Annie glanced at her mother, who was giving her a stern look at having been on the phone for almost twenty minutes. "I have to go. It was nice talking to you Abed."

She hung up the phone and went to her room, sighing sadly as she thought about Abed. While he wasn't living that far away (about twenty minutes from where he used to live), it was still far enough where it was difficult to see him. Sometimes they would talk on the phone. But between the physical distance and the emotional fallout of his parent's separating, they didn't communicate with each other all that much as of late. She was glad she had called him today, and knew she should make more of an effort to keep him in her life.

She looked around her room, seeing the scarf Jeff had given her for her birthday on top of her dresser, and felt a deep pang of sadness in her chest. She had to admit that she missed her best friend (or more accurately her ex-best friend). While a part of her was still mad at him for how he had acted, she hated that they weren't friends anymore. But they hadn't spoken to one another in weeks. At this point too much time had passed for her to just simply call him or go over to his place to visit.

As much as she hated to think this way, she wasn't sure how they could become friends again.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The first day back from Christmas break was one of the worst days of Annie's life. First off, that was the first day she had to go to school wearing her new glasses. After going to the eye doctor due to the small problem of everything appearing blurry, she now had to wear big round glasses that made her look like an owl. She was already made fun of at school for being eager to learn, and this would just add more fuel to the fire.

Her fears were confirmed when Meghan laughed and called her Owly, which led to others snickering at her discomfort. Her bad day continued when she went to the bathroom and ran into Big Cheddar. She was forced to hand over her lunch money to the bully under threat that new glasses would get smashed if she didn't. As a result of this Annie had to go hungry at lunch time.

But the worst part of the day was recess. Once she was outside Annie started making her way to the playground, hoping some time on the swings might make her feel better. As she made her way there she suddenly felt a snow ball hit her back. She turned around, almost crying at seeing that her attacker was Alan. "Not you."

"Hey, Annster." He smiled wickedly as he scooped up another snow ball and came towards her, followed closely by Troy. "Nice glasses Four Eyes."

"Real original," she said thickly, desperately trying to keep tears from spilling out of her. She looked around, seeing a crowd forming around them. "Can't you just leave me alone? Why are you always picking on me?"

"Because you're a dorky teacher's pet," he sneered as Troy snickered at his response. "You think you're special because you're smart. Well, that doesn't mean anything. You're still just a dweeb with no friends. Even Jeff finally wised up and cut you lose."

"SHUT UP!" she shrieked, causing the crowd to laugh at her discomfort.

"Oh, what are you going to do, make me?" he said as he pushed Annie. "Come on, what are you going to do?" he taunted as he pushed Annie to the ground.

As she lay there in tears the crowd grew silent, becoming uncomfortable at this display. One of the unwritten rules of the school yard was boys didn't hit girls. It was accepted for boys to physically fight boys, and for girls to fight girls. It was even accepted at times for girls (such as Big Cheddar) to hit boys. But boys hitting girls went against the natural playground order.

"Hey, come on, she's had enough," Troy pleaded.

"I'll decide when she's had enough," Alan sneered before grinning at the sight of Annie crying. "Let me help you wash those new glasses of yours." With that he knelt against Annie's chest and roughly rubbed a snowball against her face. As she coughed and tried to get away she looked around, hoping someone would stop this. But while no one liked what was happening, none of them attempted to stop it. Instead she laid there crying, both from humiliation and from the fact that no one would help her.

Suddenly she saw someone grab Alan and throw him off her. Her glasses were blurry from snow water, so she couldn't make out her savior. She scrambled to her feet and hurryingly wiped them against her shirt so she could actually see. Though once she did regain her sight, she was sure she was seeing things, since her savor was none other than Jeff.

"Leave her alone," Jeff snarled, his voice mad enough to stop a tiger in its tracks.

"Oh, what are you, defending your _girlfriend_?" Allan scoffed. "I thought you two broke up once you saw what a loser she was."

With that Jeff charged forward and punched Alan. Alan stepped back as the crowd started cheering them on. A fight between a boy and girl was unnatural. But a fight between two boys, now that was entertainment.

Alan looked at Troy, hoping he would help. But Troy shook his head, not wanting to get involved after what Alan had done. Realizing he was on his own Alan came out swinging, trying to hit Jeff but just missing as he ducked and weaved out of the way. Just as he managed to hit Jeff in the arm he heard a shriek as Annie grabbed hold of his neck from behind. He shook himself wildly before he managed to get her off him.

Suddenly everyone looked around as loud whistles were heard. The crowd scattered as playground aids ran towards the scene. They quickly broke up the fight and brought Annie, Jeff, Alan and Troy to the principal's office.

As they waited outside the office Jeff looked at Annie, who was looking at the ground nervously. She brought her head up and looked at him, almost wordlessly asking him why he helped her after everything. Truth be told, Jeff wasn't sure why he did what he did. As a rule he tried to avoid physical fighting, since the last thing he wanted was to be punched in the face. And considering everything that had happened between him and Annie, he wasn't sure if he should even interfere or not. But once he saw Alan rubbing snow in her face, Jeff couldn't just sit back and let her be hurt and humiliated. He had to help her, no matter what happened afterwards.

Before either of them could say anything the Principal's door opened, and it was time to face the beast.

Of the four of them, Troy was the easiest to deal with, since he really didn't do anything. After hearing what happened Principal Memenntos immediately let him leave unscathed. The principal wanted to punish Annie given that she had grabbed hold of Alan, but after Jeff argued that Annie was defending herself and had an unblemished school record Annie was let off with just a warning. As for Jeff, he got a fairly light sentence, since he was only fighting to defend a friend. He just got after school detention for the rest of the week.

Alan's punishment was the most severe. He got after school detention for three weeks and had to write a five page essay on why he shouldn't bully people. He tried to argue that Annie drove him to pick on her by making him feel insecure by being smarter than everyone else, but the principal wouldn't hear it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After school that day both Jeff and Alan sat in detention. For the most part it was not that big of a deal. The teacher in charge pretty much just let them hang out and read or whatnot. While it wasn't ideal, Jeff figured he could handle sitting there for a few days.

He looked over at Alan, hoping he could talk to him about what had happened. But Alan wouldn't even look at him. As much as he hated to admit it, Jeff knew his friendship with Alan was pretty much over. Alan would never forgive him for fighting him over Annie. He might have been able to get over interfering with kickball last year, but this was something he wouldn't let go. It made Jeff sad knowing they weren't friends anymore. The guy could be a pain, but Jeff had known him since kindergarten. It wasn't easy knowing they probably wouldn't be friends again.

_It was because of Annie_, Jeff thought. _Alan didn't have a problem with me until I started hanging out with Annie. I don't know why…but it's almost like he thought I was replacing him by being friends with her. _

It was then that it finally all clicked. Alan's hostility towards Annie was the same way he felt about Abed. Abed and Annie hanging out together made him feel left out, like he was being pushed aside. Though it wasn't intentional, it made him feel like he was being replaced. That's why he had had such a problem with the two of them being friends.

As he looked at the back of Alan's head, he suddenly decided to see Annie later on to try and talk to her again. He had already lost one friend today. Hopefully he could try to get another one back.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff paused in front of Annie's front door, hesitating to actually knock on it. It had been easy in detention to decide he would see her when he got out for the day. But now that he was actually doing it, it didn't seem as easy to do anymore. How could they begin to talk after everything that had happened?

He almost turned around and walked away. But as he started to he thought about how happy he had been when they were friends, and how much it had hurt him when it all went to hell. He had already tried to talk to her dozens of times. One more time couldn't hurt.

Before he could stop himself he rang the doorbell. He waited a few moments before the door opened, revealing Annie's mom. "Hello. What are you doing here?" she said in a thinly veiled tone of contempt.

"Jeff." He looked around as Annie came pattering down the stairs. "Hi."

"Hey Annie. Can we talk?"

"Alright."

Mariel gave them a look before she stepped aside and let Jeff pass. "Keep your door open," she called out as they walked upstairs to Annie's room.

"Okay," Annie yelled. She waited until her mom walked away before closing her door shut. She looked around, feeling nervous about being alone in the same room with Jeff after all this time. "Do you want to sit down?"

"Sure." He started going towards the made bed, but then quickly backed up and sat on a chair next to her desk. He watched Annie as she sat on her bed, not sure how he should start. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I wasn't hurt that badly by Alan," she said. Annie knew there were many things he meant from his question, but chose to the most obvious answer to say out loud.

Jeff nodded his head before unexpectedly blurting out, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked.

"You know…"

"No, what."

"You're not going to make this easy are you?" he asked, anger creeping into his voice in spite of himself.

"Jeff, you caused one of my friends to scream in fright, and then we don't talk for weeks-"

"I tried to talk to you," he insisted. "I tried for weeks, but you wouldn't give me a chance."

"I know, okay." She sighed in frustration over their situation. "I know this is my fault too, alright. I just…why do you hate Abed anyway?"

"I don't hate Abed. I hated…I felt like he was taking you away from me."

"Why would you think that?" she asked.

"You two were always hanging out and doing stuff together."

"Yeah, because I'm friends with him. I still don't get what your problem with him is? You never had a problem with me hanging out with friends before," she reasoned.

"That's because…" He looked down, wishing he had something to distract himself from dealing with this. "It was always just us before. Even when we were playing with other people, it was always you and me. Then Abed starting playing with us and suddenly it didn't feel like it was just us anymore. It felt like I was being replaced."

Annie got up from her bed and went over to her friend. "Jeff, Abed's my friend, and he was going through some really tough stuff at the beginning of school. He needed someone to be there for him. But you can't be replaced by anyone. You're…you're my best friend. At least…you were before all this happened," she finished in a small voice.

Jeff's throat felt tight as he swallowed thickly, there being so much he had wanted to tell her. "My dad sent me a card for my birthday."

"What?" she said in surprise.

"Yeah. That's why I was so mad the day I pushed Abed. I was upset over it and Abed kept talking to me after I asked him not to, and it just drove me over the edge."

Annie nodded her head, understanding a bit more why Jeff did what he did. "You still shouldn't have pushed him."

"Well how was I supposed to know he's shriek like that? I thought he'd just get up and yell at me."

"Abed's not really a yeller. Unless he's reciting something from a movie." Annie groaned as she readied herself to admit her own mistakes in the matter. "I'm sorry too."

"Why are you apologizing? I was the one who pushed Abed."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have ignored you like that when you tried to apologize. I didn't even say anything when you got me that scarf for my birthday." She went over to her closet and pulled out a plastic grocery bag that was beside her snow boots. "Here you go. I know it's really late, but it's your birthday present."

Jeff opened the bag and pulled out an action figure of The Incredible Hulk. "Wow, this is cool." He looked at her, shocked that she had given the toy to him. "You kept this all this time?"

"Yeah…" she glanced down, feeling shy at revealing her reason. "If I got rid of it, it felt like we really would never be friends again. So I kept your birthday gift, hoping I might be able to give it to you someday."

Jeff looked at Annie, a warm feeling growing inside of him at hearing a part of her hoped they'd be friends again in spite of everything. "You look smart with those glasses."

"I hate them. I look like an owl."

"Well, you're smart anyway, so now you just look even smarter then you did before. And owls are always smart in books, so it fits. Alan shouldn't have picked on you like that because of them."

"He's always hated me. Of course he's make fun of me for this," she reasoned.

"Well, don't worry. If he does anything again, I'll beat him up."

At hearing that Annie went over and hugged Jeff, feeling a knot in her stomach finally loosen after all that time. She had greatly missed seeing Jeff. And now that they were friends again, it made her happier then she could out into words.


End file.
